Katie Mehnert stands with Council Member Greg Travis, Sara Harding-Telatko and her son, and Mayor Sylvester Turner.
Courtesy of Katie Mehnert
On the first anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, Mayor Sylvester Turner stood on my front lawn.
It was an unforgettable moment. A year earlier, much of my home had been underwater. My young daughter and I were rescued by boat. I later learned that my office had flooded too. Like so many Houstonians, I was terrified, angry and wanted action. I spoke out on social media.
The mayor could have viewed me as another frustrated constituent. On paper, we came from different political worlds and different lived experiences. I was a Republican. He was a lifelong Democratic politician. But he still came to me and listened. He also told me I was persistent in talking about the need for big changes to tackle energy and climate challenges.
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Turner saw past labels, looking to the person, the problem and the possibility. “We need to bring everyone together across our city and the industry to drive the energy future for Houston,” he said. With those words, he planted the seed of what would become Houston Energy & Climate Week.
Mayor Sylvester Turner stands on Katie Mehnert’s front lawn with a card her daughter drew, which reads: The Flood. It rained a lot. Water got into the house. A man with a boat got us out of the house. We are safe.
Courtesy of Katie Mehnert
I grew up in Louisiana, where my father worked in oil and gas. My own career has crisscrossed the energy system: Shell, BP, offshore rigs and platforms, and climate technology. I know that energy isn’t some abstract ideal. It requires a vital system, built and maintained by financial and human capital.
Harvey, meanwhile, was a wake-up call about how climate change and extreme weather affect all of us. The world needs reliable energy and climate action. Oil and gas must coexist with clean technology. So must heavy industry and lower emissions, prosperity and stewardship.
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When I attended climate-focused gatherings in other cities, it was obvious to me that they were missing Houston’s energy know-how. We’re the energy capital of the world, but the full breadth of our offerings and experience failed to reach the national stage. The people who create and maintain the infrastructure that powers modern life were too often shunned or treated as part of the problem, rather than asked to join in and help solve it.
My conversation with Turner showed that people don’t have to agree on everything before they can work together on this. We can be curious, open-minded and supportive neighbors, cooperating to turn fear into resolve, innovation and action.
I carried that idea of breaking down barriers into work across the industry. As a U.S. Department of Energy ambassador in 2022, I helped to bring Biden administration leaders to Houston. We boarded a Metro bus and showed them workers, facilities and innovations that call our city home. We discussed a just transition built with the ideas and contributions of workers and communities rather than imposed on them.
Houston Energy & Climate Week (HECW) grew from that same vision. Cofounder Juliana Garaizar, the former chief investment officer at Greentown Labs, and I set out to create an experience that would be distinct from other cities. It would bring together the backers who invest with the builders who don’t see solutions as “either-or,” but rather as “both-and.” We should all face the world with a commitment to plentiful energy and climate action.
In the world of energy and building new infrastructure, some are tempted to say “not in my backyard.” They want solutions to be out of sight, out of mind. But not Houstonians. We create solutions on the front lawn. As part of the global Climate Week Network, HECW scales the lawn conversation, putting people with different stakes in the same rooms, working from a shared sense of responsibility.
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This year, attendees will hear how capabilities can be combined rather than forced to compete. Take Fervo Energy, for example. Its work on utility-scale geothermal power draws on oilfield expertise. Or Erthos’ Bravo project in Matagorda County, where utility-scale solar operates alongside the LyondellBasell polymers complex it will serve.
Each August, I remember what Harvey’s pounding rains took. But I also see a city that is more determined, connected and capable than it was before the storm.
America’s energy future will be shaped where energy is produced, infrastructure is financed, technology is deployed, and communities live with the consequences. It will be shaped in Houston.
At this year’s Houston Energy and Climate Week, we’ll honor Turner, who died in March of last year while serving in Congress. We will honor a leader who stood on a lawn once covered by water, saw possibility where others saw division, and chose to join hands. His legacy is not simply what Houston became under his leadership, but the standard he set for how we build what comes next.
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Katie Mehnert is co-founder of Houston Energy & Climate Week. Learn more at climateweekhouston.com.